Latest news with #ChelseaSupportersTrust
The Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Chelsea fans fume after being blitzed with Sir Jim Ratcliffe-style ticket price hikes and new booking fees
CHELSEA fans slammed the club for 'exploiting' supporters with ticket and membership price rises. The Chelsea Supporters' Trust will be joining the #StopExploitingLoyalty campaign after a member survey saw near 90 per cent vote in favour of it. 3 3 Blues fans are reeling from a triple whammy of season ticket hikes, a new £60 'priority' membership and new booking fees on every seat. The Football Supporters' Association launched the campaign last year. And a CST spokesperson said: 'Chelsea FC is alienating a large part of our core fanbase. 'This should be a huge wake-up call to the owners and senior leadership team within the club. 'Not only is it ethically wrong to exploit the loyalty of the lifeblood of our club but it is strategically short-sighted.' Chelsea have been approached for comment. Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe introduced a flat-rate minimum of £66 per seat for non-season ticket holders. JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS A new match categorisation model has been introduced that will charge some members up to £97 for top fixtures. Concession prices have also been axed for all. And despite the Red Devils' woeful season, there has been a five per cent increase in season ticket prices for adults. Though those for under-16s will be frozen at the current amount. 3
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Fans urge Supporters' Trust to join campaign around ticketing
The results of a survey of Chelsea fans has urged the Chelsea Supporters' Trust (CST) to join the Football Supporters' Association (FSA)'s 'Stop Exploiting Loyalty' comes as the club introduces a range of new policies around ticketing and membership, including a new booking fee per ticket and a priority membership to the CST's survey, almost 90% of respondents instructed the trust to join the FSA's campaign which was launched in 2024 and has seen a number of protests across different supporter groups take place in support of the CST say that Blues fans have indicated they do not believe their loyalty is "understood or appreciated by the club" and that they will now "take action to highlight how supporters are continuously being overlooked".The CST said: "Piece by piece, Chelsea FC is alienating a large part of our core fan base with decisions that will slowly force supporters to pick and choose which games they attend."The exploitation of members is also a worry, and we are deeply concerned that the increasingly bad deal that members have will negatively impact our club for generations to come."This should be a huge wake-up call to the owners and the senior leadership team within the club. Supporters are rejecting the decisions made by the club and are evidently unhappy with the current path being taken."Not only is it ethically wrong to exploit the loyalty of the lifeblood of our club, but it is strategically short-sighted and obliterates any trust or goodwill that had started to be built by recent positive initiatives."
Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Times
Premier League writes to Chelsea over Todd Boehly's ticket resale site
The Premier League has written to Chelsea to seek clarification over the club's position on ticket resales in light of Todd Boehly's ownership of the third-party ticketing website Vivid Seats. In March Chelsea supporters called on the Premier League to take action against Boehly, the club's chairman, for his ownership of the platform, which resells match tickets for thousands of pounds above their face value. Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive, confirmed during a meeting with the Football Supporters' Association that the league had written to Chelsea in light of the controversy. Boehly, who is part of the BlueCo consortium that owns Chelsea, is also a director of and investor in Vivid Seats, an American website that allows users based outside the UK to buy and sell tickets to concerts and sporting events. The Chelsea Supporters' Trust says Boehly has yet to respond to 'multiple opportunities' to address fans' concerns ROBBIE JAY BARRATT – AMA/GETTY IMAGES Vivid Seats was found to be selling Chelsea tickets at inflated prices, with seats for the club's home fixture against the champions Liverpool listed for up to £20,000. The platform is listed by the Premier League as an 'unauthorised ticket website', with the league urging fans to 'exercise extreme caution' when dealing with the site. It cannot be used by fans in Britain because it is illegal to resell tickets in this way in the UK. The Chelsea Supporters' Trust (CST) contacted the Premier League in March about the matter, while it also wrote to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy. 'As a director of Chelsea FC and part-owner, Mr Boehly's connection with Vivid Seats is totally inappropriate and significantly undermines the efforts of Chelsea FC, the Premier League, and the Metropolitan police to combat ticket touting,' the letter said. 'The CST firmly believes that it is now time for the Premier League to act and investigate.' The CST said it had given Boehly 'multiple opportunities' to address the fans' concerns but that neither the 51-year-old American nor his representatives had responded. Masters noted that the Premier League would respond to the CST after it had finished consultations with Chelsea. Chelsea and the Premier League have been approached for comment.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Premier League questions Chelsea over ‘unauthorised ticket seller' co-owned by Todd Boehly
The Premier League has demanded answers from Chelsea over the 'unauthorised' reselling of Premier League tickets by a website co-owned by Todd Boehly. In an open letter, the Chelsea Supporters' Trust requested in March that the English top tier act 'swiftly' in investigating club chairman Boehly's involvement in Vivid Seats. Richard Masters, the league's chief executive, has now confirmed at a Football Supporters' Association event that the competition had written to the club. According to minutes of the recent FSA event, Masters 'confirmed the PL [Premier League] had written to Chelsea to seek clarification on the club's position with the matter ongoing. RM [Masters] advised the PL would reply to CST [Chelsea Supporters' Trust] once the PL had concluded its discussions with the club.' Telegraph Sport first reported in February how Vivid Seats, a US-based online marketplace of which Boehly is both an investor and director, was allowing foreign-based users to buy and sell Premier League tickets for up to tens of thousands of pounds. Boehly has not been accused of any wrongdoing. CST had asked the league to 'act and investigate' the situation which they believe is both a 'breach of trust' and 'a clear conflict of interest'. The trust has also submitted evidence against the American company to the Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Chelsea recently pledged to take action on ticket touting but did not name Vivid Seats or other ticket resellers. Vivid does not allow fans based in Britain to buy or sell tickets – the latter of which would be illegal – but its business model does raise the prospect of Chelsea co-owner Boehly profiting from the kind of activity his own club have repeatedly denounced. The CST wrote in its March letter to Masters: 'We have received a significant amount of correspondence from concerned CST members and supporters from the wider Chelsea FC fan base on this issue that cannot be ignored.' Boehly has not commented but Vivid Seats previously said in a statement: 'As a global business, we are always respectful and cognisant of local regulatory policies and procedures that are in place in any market to ensure we are compliant. As such, our policy restricts the sale of EPL tickets from UK sellers. We can confirm that we do not have any UK sellers listing EPL inventory on our marketplace. Additionally, Vivid Seats does not and has never directly marketed or advertised Premier League tickets to UK customers.' Boehly, a director and investor in Vivid, described as an 'unauthorised ticket seller' by the league, also owns a 13 per cent stake in Chelsea.
The Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Chelsea asked to explain relationship with controversial ticket website Todd Boehly part-owns after fan fury
CHELSEA have been asked to explain their relationship with ticket resale site Vivid Seats after fan fury towards Todd Boehly. Blues co-owner Boehly is a director and investor in the American firm, which listed some individual Premier League tickets for up to £20,000 last season. 2 2 The Chelsea Supporters' Trust (CST) wrote to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters in March saying they were "dismayed" by the connection. Blues supporters also said Boehly's position felt like a "breach of trust" and a "clear conflict of interest". Vivid Seats, who often sell tickets at inflated rates, is listed on the Premier League website as an unauthorised ticket website. The league has even told fans to "exercise extreme caution" when purchasing from Vivid Seats. Masters met with the Football Supporters Association last month and revealed the Premier League have now contacted Chelsea and that the matter is "ongoing". The minutes from the meeting between the FSA and Masters, which included CST vice-chair Dom Rosso, read: "RM [Masters] confirmed the PL had written to Chelsea to seek clarification on the club's position with the matter ongoing. "RM advised the PL would reply to CST once the PL had concluded its discussions with the club." Chelsea took strong action against ticket touts earlier this season. They told supporters in an email that they had cancelled 1,500 membership accounts where a link to ticket touting had been identified. Chelsea have been contacted for comment.
